a massive tornado tears through the south leaving a dozen dead and thousands homeless. here's what people are talking about. right now a massive cleanup effort underway in mississippi where a weekend tornado killed at least 12 people. we begin with a report on a violent storm that tore through four states. >> tears of sorrow and voices of hope standing what's left of their church. dale was inside the church when the tornado hit.

he hid under his communion table. >> it's like he put his arms around me. everything else was swirling around. >>reporter: the storm ripped a path of destruction from missouri to louisiana, arkansas to alabama, killing nearly one dozen people, including three children.

>> weather coverage continues with bernadette with more on the strength of the twister that touched down this weekend. >> this was a strong one, as you saw by the damage there. that is the damage scale used to measure tornados, and it came in as an e-4. take a look. that's almost the top level tornado we can get out there. winds were estimated with this particular tornado to be about 170 miles per hour. i want to show you how large this tornado was in addition to strength. at one point the width was 1.75 miles wide, and they've measured it to be 97 miles for the path length and think it's going to go up because they haven't surveyed the entire

land yet. >> we're live with the flooding and damage left behind. damage is still very apparent and people still trying to clean up. >> the water level of the jones falls much higher than usual after heavy rains pounded the area. >> it covers the storm drain and can cause a backup.

>>reporter: just hours before one exit away the ramp was shut down after 3 feet of water blocked the road on interstate 83. homeowners across the area are feeling dealing with the aftermath. lightning caused a massive oak tree to snap making a mess. utility crews are restoring power and will continue to do that the rest of the day. >> can we expect more rain tonight? bob is tracking the live doppler radar. >> there have been heavy showers around the region just popping up around the city very quiet, but to the southwest,

northeast and southeast pretty heavy showers going on. so we still have a risk of getting thunder and lightning and brief downpours to the northeast, just light rain moving into the philadelphia west of us, one thunderstorm around cascade, lighter showers around washington county. another batch south of washington. this is moving east and will be affecting folks in southern maryland in the next hour or two. there's another batch also down to the south and southeast of us approaching the salisbury area. you folks can expect probably heavier showers and thunder showers. it was warmer down there. this activity around the neck of virginia. that is headed pretty much in your direction. you can look for similar activity moving your way. we'll probably see more showers until at least nine or 10:00 tonight, but good news on the horizon tomorrow.

all right, bob, good to hear that. stay with wjz for complete coverage for instant updates on the forecast and a look at the incredible damage done by the tornado. log onto wjz.com. new details today about a police involved shooting in glen burnie. >>reporter: police are identifying the anne arundel county officer who advertised and then shot a man. after he tazed him. >> the officer is a three year veteran of the police department. a young woman struck and killed in rose dale is identified today. police say the 17-year-old was pushing her two-year-old in a stroller and had just crossed

philadelphia road when she was hit. the driver of the 19907 ford pickup truck stopped to help. the child was not hurt. charges are pending, though, against the driver. 45-year-old. a shocking report about the state of the nation's health. in tonight's health watch report, sandra reports almost half of all americans have at least one of three life threatening conditions. >>reporter: stop someone on any street in america, and chances are you'll find a chronic health problem. >> a little high on cholesterol. >> i have high cholesterol, yes. >> this man that is high blood pressure. they have plenty of company. the centers for disease control has startling new data about the state of our health. 45%, almost half the entire adult population has high blood

pressure, cholesterol or diabetes, conditionses that are killing us. >> each condition is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which is one of the leading causes of death in the u.s. >> even more frightening, 13% of americans have two of the conditions, and throw% are -- throw% we're eating too much and exercising too little. the latest statistic show that one third of americans are obese. >> you eat a lot of fast food and always on the run and don't make good food choices, you can end up in that situation. >> one in seven adults did not even know they were sick with these conditions. >> these are conditions that are treatable through lifestyle changes and medications.

also in health watch today, it can be as simple as a pill or two a day, but prenatal vitamins can make the difference between a healthy or sick baby. >> here in the city, unfortunately, we have the highest rate of infant mortality in the state, so what we'd like to too is reduce the number by at least 10 percent, reduce it by 10 percent by 2012. >> today's donation will buy enough vitamins to supply 5,000 women with vitamins. cat adoptions at the

carroll county humane society are on hold because of extremely deadly and contagious virus. it's essentially under quarantine. animals that contract the virus can spread it for more than a month. cats without symptoms are being vaccinated. the humane society is asking people who find stray cats to hold off bringing them in. let's check in on our roads today. i know it was a busy morning. hopefully the afternoon will not be so busy, but with the rain we'll see, right? >> yeah, unfortunately it's not looking so good. only one serious one with a lane closed in route 183 meadow ridge at roosevelt. a handful of them in the city. frederick at north warwick,

falls at rolling heights. the alameda, mount royal terrace and west franklin street. one in crofton on davidson road and painters mill road and watch for debris if you're traveling on the bay bridge, 50 westbound blocking the right lane. as far as delays, slight ones on 95 northbound between there and the beltway, an average speed of 51 miles an hour. there's looking at your average speeds and drive times. 40 miles an hour your slowest side on the inner loop west side between 95, and 95. still ahead on wjz's eyewitness news at , live and learn, the faa wants to make an example of two northwest airlines pilots who over shot the runway by 150 miles.

>> our family is gone. >> thousands of mourners remember a beloved middle school principal while police continue to search for his killers. a serious reason to keep your children from watching r- rated movies, and pockets of rain still remain. get your updated forecast coming up next. ,, - friend: yeah?

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dc principal found slain in his montgomery county home, today no sign of the killers. hundreds of mourners remembered him at his wake, including his former students at shaw middle school. >> he was my principal, my best friend. he helped me be the person i am today. >> for some of us he was a father, a mentor. like a true father to me, and i loved him dearly. >> the parents and sister greeted more than 2,000 mourners, among them a group of ninth graders who liked him so much they did something extraordinary. they lobbied to stay for another year as ninth graders. >> he understood everything about ninth graders. he would know what we were

going through in our life and he would listen to us no matter what, no matter what time of night. >> he wasn't just a principal. he was like a best friend. >> whenever we were having problems, he would find a way to help us. he was the best principal we ever had. >> while children try to understand the incomprehensible, police say two people may be involved. he was shot in an upstairs bedroom and witnesses reported a vehicle leaving his home. >> he was like a second father. >> he was like the only person we had to keep us moving forward, and now we've got to do it by ourself. >> the best thing would be that i love him so much, and it's not fair. >> police are still trying to find out why someone killed him. investigators will be looking into his lifestyle and acquaintances he may have met online. a public memorial service will be held this saturday at the

music center in bethesda. some mixed news to start the week. on wall street. the dow was up, but the other markets down. s&p was down five and nasdaq off seven. let's go to new york right now where we have the cbs watch money update. >> democrats are hoping to lock in a vote this afternoon to begin debating financial reform on capitol hill. but republicans want to see changes to president obama's supposed bill before moving ahead while republicans see a need for a crackdown on wall street, some claim the current plan gives the government too much control. two rental car giants are joining forces, hertz agreeing to buy thrifty for more than $1 billion, giving hertz 1500 more rental locations. it may also cut $180 million in costs. great news on the internet

and rising, but news for paper circulations for newspapers. despite efforts to crack down on the industry, mortgage fraud rose last year. a study shows a number of mortgage fraud reports among loans in 2009 grew 7%. the highest rate of fraud cases was florida. at the new york stock exchange. coming up on wjz's eyewitness news at 4, violent video games. can lawmakers ban the sale or rental to children? compensate university, where there's food, music and a big art agency -- auction this saturday night. it's gray and cool with scattered showers. the rain nearly gone. wjz13 is always on with the top

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i think the thunderstorms kept waking me up in the middle of the night. >> not seeing the sunshine puts us in a sleepy mode. we do still have rain and even in cases thunderstorms that are going to move through because we're not quite finished with the storm system yet. i want to show you what's been going on the last few hours. a lot of this has been building up into the form of thunderstorms, but first off northeastern parts of the state showers making their way out of here. they're building into something stronger as they move toward philadelphia, but west of us, this is what's starting to make its way in, once again, from west virginia. could be a few rumbles of thunder. in frederick, the rain starting to move in, and that's going to pick up. in the southwest just along dc over into virginia, that whole line is going to move eastward

into maryland. this batch is looking like a little hail and gusty, maybe even damaging winds, and one more area we want to show you. this batch making its way into southern parts of the eastern shore has had some history of being severe. so we're going to have to watch that as it moves in. a few rumble eds of thunder, but could get worse as we head to the next few hours. we'll show you what's been going on this morning. rounds of rain made for a messy morning commute. sort of held off for a lot of the afternoon, but has been picking up again as we just showed you across western parts of the state and all of that moving eastward. another thing, with all of this rain that's happened so far, frederick seems to have gotten the most. 3.7 inches of rain. it started yesterday afternoon and sat on top of you for a while. just over the border where this came from, 2.59 inches. you can see all the way downtown baltimore, and most of that came in three hours.

winds out of the east keeping the cool air in place for most of us today. now, western parts southern parents, we've warmed up, in some cases warmer than the 60s you're seeing right now. so here's that storm that's been causing all of the problems for a lot of the country. until this area crosses through maryland, we're not finished with it yet. this is the center of the storm. it's going to take us through tomorrow morning to get out of here. so still some rain tonight. that's into tomorrow morning. by tomorrow afternoon the wind starts to pick up and we start to dry out. the low with these lines indicate the winds being up. so later tuesday into wednesday it's going to turn windy around here, but it's a much drier wind. out on the water, small craft advisory as the winds start to

pick up tomorrow into wednesday and we're going to dry out, but tonight still heavy thunderstorms around and rain and fog possible overnight tomorrow. still showers around mainly during the morning, getting out of here, winds picking up, cool day tomorrow, and then again wednesday. sunshine going to return midweek and the warmup kicks in for later in the week. we'll get this out of the way. >> keep it right here for tonight's prime time lineup. it's two hours of comedy starting at eight. then at 10 don't miss "csi miami" followed by eyewitness news at 11. still to come on wjz eyewitness , dozens of school girls in afghanistan are stick. is the taliban to blame? surprising results of air samples taken just before the explosion in west virginia. explosion in west virginia. oil oozing toward the cost [ laughs ]

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56 degrees and overcast. >> here's what people are talking about. >> a growing environmental disaster after an oil rig explodes, now leaking thousands of gallons of oil. the frantic efforts to protect the shoreline. >>reporter: the alarming discovery saturday a mile beneath the surface, two leaks that could threaten shores from louisiana to florida, oil escaping at 40,000 gallons a day. that may be small compared to the 11 million gallons spilled by the exxon valdez in 1989, but officials say it's still a big problem. >> our goal is to contain this oil subsurface as much as possible, but we have to be

prepared to respond to a major spill. >> the coast is safe for now. >> we don't see any impact to any shoreline at least within the next three days. >> officials are using robotic submarines to try to shut off the leaks in the next 24-36 hours. >> 11 workers are still missing after that oil rig explosion. the coast guard called off the search for them last week. new clues to finding out what caused the worst coal mine disaster in years. air samples were taken within an hour of the blast that killed 29 workers in west virginia. today the results do not show high levels of explosive cass gases. the examination also showed that airflow in the upper big branch mine was fine. federal investigators have said the blast was likely caused by

methane gas, coal dust or mixture of the two, but haven't been able to confirm the source. there's also been denies that profits over safety in the face of lawsuits from families. dozens of young girls in afghanistan are in the hospital today, and that country's education leaders say the taliban is to blame. the children were poison had at school. >> dozens lie sick in this afghan hospital, victims of a suspected poison gas attack. children said a strange odor filled the classroom and people started collapsing. president karzai called the

apparent poisoning horrific and said that any attempt to keep girls from school is an want of terrorism. the taliban denied any involvement, although the city in northern afghanistan has come under threat from taliban fighters and islamic militant allies. girls were not allowed to attend schools when the taliban led most of afghanistan before the u.s. invasion, and that's still the case in taliban controlled areas. previous cases of sudden illness have left parents too scared to send their daughters to school, but some of those cases have been put down to mass hysteria. no one was made seriously ill in the most recent incident. blood tests will help determine if it was poison gas or simply fear spread throughout the school. a taliban spokesman issued a statement to reporters over the telephone saying the group

strongly condemns an act that targets innocent school girls and is suggesting other anti- government groups could be to blame. well, gun shots rang out in a super fresh marking lot, and police are identifying the suspects. 19-year-old louis edwards opened fire hitting another man, police say. the victim was transported in stable condition. edwards is wanted on several charges. anyone with information is urged to call 911. thousands of maryland residents could have extra money coming their way. the comptroller's office is trying to connect 60,000 recently identified owners to $42 million in unclaimed property and funds. starting tomorrow, the comptroller will place adds in 30 newspapers throughout the state and anyone who finds their name in the ad should contact the comptroller's office. thousands of unclean items are also posted for auction on ebay. a major hurdle in the race

to overhaul the nation's economy. democrats need republican support to move ahead. >> democrats are looking for cracks in the republican's wall of opposition to their financial reform bill. >> i think in the end we're going to get a bipartisan vote because the position right now is untenable. >> it will just take one republican to break the logjam in tonight's vote, a yes with green light debate on the most sweeping changes to the banking system since the great depression, but the gop wants a deal beforehand, and without it all 41 republicans say they'll vote no. >> we're an inch or a half inch away, but we're not there yet. we're close. >> both sides predict congress will ultimately agree on a reform bill and public opinion is leaning that way, too. especially as spotlight swings to the case against goldman sachs. >> the firm is accused of

misleading investors and could add fuel to the reform debate on tuesday when goldman's top executives testify. republicans say they're not onboard until it includes guarantees of no more bail outs, and there's still disagreements on how hard to crack down on derivatives. >> we're not going to be rushed into another massive bill based on the assurances of our friends on the other side. >> the house has already approved its version. it will have to be merged with whatever the senate eventually approved before a final version is ready for the president to sign. in washington, joel brown, wjz eyewitness news. republicans also say the bill does not go far enough to restraining freddie may and freddie mac which lost billions of dollars in bad loans. the highest court will weigh the battle between free speech and the right to playsuit play violent video

games. the law was thrown out last year on grounds that it violated constitutional rights. the court will hear arguments in the fall. there's a new reason to make sure your children are not watching r-rated movies. jessica has details on new research involving middle school students. jessica? >> the new study finds a connection between r-rated movies and alcohol consumption. researchers say the findings are likely tied to the amount of alcohol consumption students are exposed to. the study tracks about 2400 students ages 10-14. waves of rain continue to move across maryland, the same

storm that's been hanging around since late saturday, so everyone wants to know when will it finally clear out? weather and traffic together. bob it tracking the radar. >> showers and strong thunderstorms down to the south. right now around the baltimore area, it's quiet. we do have a severe thunderstorm warning issued for charles county until 5:15 this afternoon. it's all moving pretty much west to east. the lower eastern shores, thunder showers, the strongest stuff to the southwest of hoopersville and just southwest of elliot and dear island. they'll also weaken as they cross the bay into southern portions of maryland because the air is cooler to the west. little rumbles of thunder, but the strongest stuff way down south of dc now just around the

fredericksburg area. for us maybe some light showers and maybe rumbles of thunder, but good news on the horizon. let's check on the roads now with traffic control. sharon? >> hi. pretty busy afternoon commute, an accident blocking lanes on route 103 meadow ridge road at roosevelt avenue. also nearby an accident 95 southbound just an area of route 100 with a backup there to 895 that will cost you about seven minutes. a handful of cents in the city, frederick avenue at south warwick, the alameda 33rd, north franklin town at west franklin street and crawford an accident in davidsonville road.

disabled vehicle to report on 95 in the northbound lanes blocking the left lane of the left two of the tunnel. a second disabled on 95 northbound. that one just approaching the beltway with delay behind that. there's a look at your drive times. northwest side looking good, but 41 miles an hour your average speed on the west side and 95 and 795 loop. looking pretty good. music, food and a one of a kind art auction all part of a major fundraiser this saturday night. more on a benefit that will go a long way in helping those who want a career in nursing. >>reporter: on the campus of the university they're buzzing about the art auction and reception that will raise money

for students who want to attend the school of nursing. >> this is one of our major fund raisers to build scholarships so we can support them to become nurses and to become health information management specialists. >> the school is going through changes and growth. >>reporter: they'll bring the caregivers. >> i feel like it documents our history, and to document the efforts of the school of nursing i thought was very important. >> good to see you. >>reporter: here we are creating artwork for a purpose, you know, a purpose other than just trying to raise funds for our own sake. it's also going towards education of others. >> it has become the number one school in graduating nurses. >> many of them are first generation college students, so not only do they come here with their dreams, but the dreams of their parents and grandparents.

>>reporter: a proud graduate and now teaches here. >> a great career as nursing faculty as well as an rn, as well as a nurse practitioner. >> 150 pieces of artwork will be up for auction, many by local artists. >> just come down and participate, and you'll be helping a lot of people continue to dream. >> tickets for saturday night's art cetera. for more information, log onto the website at wjz.com. straight ahead, kidnaped couple,. and four days endured in a

swamp, hear from the girl for the first time. we'll have the forecast also coming up. ,,,,,,,,

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at the same time the regions snow, visibility 7 feet in some places. the strong winds killed three people and seriously injured another. between the sand storms and recent spring snowfall, farmers are seeing major set backs in the growing season. in taiwan, hundreds of solders are searching for survivors, but novick times have been found. officials say it will take 20 days to clear the road.

paul and rachael chandler were kidnaped back last year. they were sailing their yacht when pirates took over their boat. they also say they will abandon the chandlers if the militants close in to save their own lives. denise, back to you. >> somali pratt groups have 300 hostages in their possession. demonstrators gathered in portland with their guns in plain view to support maine's open carry law, allowing anyone in the state to carry a firearm, but must have a permit if it's loaded or card into a

vehicle. is he awl opponents were also on hand. during a protest of the vietnam war, kent state has created a walking tour around campus x the tour marks seven sites where guard members opened fire on students. next the university hopes to raise $1.5 million to create a museum marking that historical day. a frantic search has a happy ending in florida, and now the girl stranded in a florida swamp for days is speaking out. the 11-year-old vanished from her homer letter this month. she has an autism like disease, as had been reading a book about a girl who goes camping. she said she learned important lessons and will do things

differently next time. >> i'll ask mom first, and i think i might go with a grown up next time. >> i had no idea that she would use her resources in this way to brave that sort of terrain and time and lack of food. >> when rescuers finally reached her she said, "glad you guys found me." it's a boy and he needs a very large bottle. a zoo in spain has welcomed a baby giraffe. it's granddam p outside.

gray and damp outside. ,,,,,,,,,

look at the skies out there right now. hard to tell what's going to happen next. >> that is some blue skies. it's not going to last. right now all the activity around the city is very quiet. to the west us a batch of showers and storms in the frederick area. another strong batch across extreme southern maryland.

you folks in charles county until 5:15 under a severe thunderstorm warning. this particular storm moving just to the east, another one north of the area. so it's possible this cell is strong and may have hail and gusty winds over 40 to 50 miles an hour. around the city very quiet. we'll see activity this evening. temperatures 56. east-northeast winds at three,

barometer very low. stable air mass, even with the storms last night west of us as they crossed through the blue ridge mountains. they did weaken. we didn't see the flooding range you saw out here, almost 4 inches of rain out here. a lot of lightning last night. temperatures here in the 50s. low pressure still out to the west is moving across the region. we'll begin to clear out. there may be one leftover shower in the morning, we think, and big improvement by late tomorrow afternoon and beautiful end to the week as high pressure moves in. temperatures recovering.

showers, maybe thunder, 50 tomorrow, maybe a morning shower and sunshine, breezy, 63 tomorrow. that's a little below normal, by the way. >> a lot of green out there. >> very green. >> thank you, bob. still to come on eyewitness news. >> cleaning up after the storm, exactly what many parts of maryland are doing after the heavy rains caused flooding and power outages. power outages. that story is next on wjz ,,,,,,

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what is smart is getting more car for your money at carmax. for the money you would spend on a stripped down new car, you could get a fully loaded guaranteed quality used car at carmax. now more than ever the smart choice is carmax. coming up next, thunderstorms rock maryland. wjz is live with the impack of

the system. and we have news if we have more rain on the way. a girl was hit while waiting at this bus stop. school hero, a principal found dead and tonight his students speak out about how he changed their lives. check in with more on these stories and much more, eyewitness news at 5:00 starts now. big clean up, thunderstorms leave a trail of damage. a push to restore service and are more storms coming? hi everybody i'm mary bubala. >> and i'm vic carter. >> a huge mess is left behind from